Five finalists for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture ' Mies van der Rohe Award'

Friday, 13 February 2009 08:05

The European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe announced the finalists for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award 2009, one of the most important and prestigious prizes for international architecture. By supporting the Prize, the European Commission underlines the role of architecture as a driver for creativity and innovation and draws attention to the important contribution of European professionals in the development of new ideas and technologies.

URS Corporation has been selected to perform construction management services for a major research facility for the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook on Long Island, NY. The facility is the $30 million Simons Center for Geometry and Physics. The architect for the project is Perkins Eastman.

The Simons Center is a new six-story, 39,000-aquare-foot academic building that will house a research institute devoted to theoretical physics and mathematics. Located between two older buildings housing the Physics and Math Departments on the university’s main campus, it will include 35 faculty offices and space for supporting staff, a faculty commons room, conference rooms, a 250-seat lecture hall, an 80-100-seat seminar room, a café/kitchen unit and an atrium. The facility is being designed to meet LEED silver-level certification standards.

TEN Arquitectos' design for Irvine, California's Orange County Great Park was one of six projects selected to receive the AIA's 2009 Institute Honor Award for Regional and Urban Design.

The 2009 Institute Honor Awards for Regional and Urban Design Jury included: Jury Chair Jonathan J. Marvel, AIA, Rogers Marvel Architects PLLC; Samuel Assefa, Assoc. AIA, City of Chicago, Department of Planning and Development; Tim Love, AIA, Utile Inc. / Architecture + Planning; Ivenue Love-Stanley, FAIA, Stanley Love-Stanley PC; and Stephanie Reich, AIA, City of Glendale, Planning Division.
Twice the size of New York City’s Central Park, Orange County
California's Great Park will bring over 1,400 acres of urban parkland
to the city of Irvine and the surrounding region. Planned on the
former site of El Toro Air Force base, this large track of undeveloped
land is situated between the Santa Ana Hills to the East and the Laguna
Hills to the West.

Zira Zero Island is a 1.000.000 m2 master plan for a carbon neutral resort and residential development on Zira Island located along the Caspian Sea. As a young post-soviet democracy, Azerbaijan is rediscovering its national identity by imagining Zira Island as an architectural landscape based upon the country’s dramatic natural setting. Located within the crescent shaped bay of the capital city Baku, Zira Island includes the Seven Peaks of Azerbaijan which is envisioned by its designers BIG Architects and the engineers Ramboll to be a sustainable model for urban development, and an iconographic skyline recognizable from the city’s coastline.

One of the largest institutions dedicated to Architecture celebrates its twentieth anniversary. Montreal's Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) opened to the public in 1989 as a new type of cultural institution, and has produced internationally recognised exhibitions, programs, research, and publications that continue to influence the field of architecture and museums.
The CCA is an international research centre and museum founded on the conviction that architecture is a public concern. Over the years it has increased public awareness of the role of architecture in society, promoted scholarly research in the field, and stimulated innovation in design practice. The CCA has become a leading voice in advancing knowledge, promoting public understanding, and widening thought and debate on the art of architecture, its history, theory, practice, and role in society today.

The future headquarters of Antwerp Port Authority will be designed by the London firm of Zaha Hadid Architects. The choice of architect was made at the Port Authority board meeting on 13 January. The new Port House will occupy the site of the technical services building on quay 63.

The Port Authority aims to make its operations more efficient by centralising the administrative and technical services which are now divided between the Port House and quay 63.

The new headquarters will also solve the pressing shortage of workspace in the present Port House on the Entrepot quay. Some 500 people will be able to move into the new building when it is completed in 2013.

Following a review of 21 international competitors, the government of Vietnam selected a team comprising Perkins Eastman and two leading Korean firms—Posco E&C, and Jina Architects Co., Ltd.—to develop a master plan for Greater Hanoi. The plan will set the development guidelines for the entire 3,300 square km Capital Region.

Among the themes discussed in team presentation were: preserving the City’s historic core and its 1,000-year old architectural legacy; the projected growth of the City from its current population of just over six million to more than 10 million inhabitants by 2030; and the need to channel the expected growth into several satellite cities linked by new transit systems connecting each to the historic City core. Additionally, Hanoi is situated in one of the richest and fertile areas in the world. The team suggested a strategy for preserving more than 40 percent of the area for natural preserves, recreational space and agricultural uses while positioning Hanoi as a model for responsible, sustainably driven urban development.